page_title: Hillfort
section_title: Scandinavia and Russia
hierarchical_section_title: Hillfort / By country / Scandinavia and Russia
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: ein Wallburg nähe Rikala in Halikko, Finnland. English: Hill fort near Rikala in Halikko, Finland. Suomi: Rikalan linna. Linnavuori Rikalan vieressä Halikossa.
context_page_description: A hillfort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortification usually follows the contours of a hill, consisting of one or more lines of earthworks, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches. Hillforts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC, and were used in many Celtic areas of central and western Europe until the Roman conquest.
context_section_description: In Scandinavia and northern Russia, hillforts are fortifications from the Iron Age which may have had several functions. They are usually located on the crests of hills and mountains making use of precipices and marshes which worked as natural defences. The crests' more accessible parts were defended with walls of stone and outer walls in the slopes beneath are common. Round and closed, so-called ring forts are common even on flat ground. The walls often have remaining parts of stone, which were probably the support of pales. They often have well delineated gateways, the gates of which were probably of wood. Hillforts with strong walls are often located beside old trade routes and have an offensive character, whereas others are reclusive and were weakly fortified, probably only for hiding during raids.
  Many forts, located centrally in densely populated areas, were permanently settled strongholds and can show traces of settlements both inside and outside. Older place names containing the element sten/stein were usually hillforts.
  In Sweden, there are 1,100 known hillforts with a strong concentration on the northern west coast and in eastern Svealand. In Södermanland there are 300, in Uppland 150, Östergötland 130, and 90 to 100 in each of Bohuslän and Gotland. Norway has about 400 hillforts, Denmark has 26.
caption: Hillfort in Halikko, Finland
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